I like millionaires as much as the next person, maybe more. And I also believe in equal rights. But as I see it, no one really has a “right” to our tax dollars, least of all the rich.

That’s why I won’t be chanting “Save the Millionaires” at the next rally.

And that’s why this story seems so strange. Congress established a program back in 2000 to give D.C. students up to $10,000 a year to defray the cost of paying out-of-state college tuition. You see, with only one public university in the district, most students end up going elsewhere, paying the higher out-of-state tuition rates. That’s not quite fair, say D.C. officials.

Still, it made sense to me when Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn proposed a new rule allowing only those D.C. families making under a million dollars a year to get the tuition subsidy. After all, if we’re trying to help folks in need, helping folks not at all in need seems a waste. As Coburn’s spokesman put it, “Every dollar that goes to millionaire families is a dollar that’s not available to lower-income families.”

But Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s delegate to Congress, strongly opposes this change, arguing, “If you are Bill Gates, who lives in the state of Washington, your kids can go to the University of Washington at in-state tuition rates. Our kids should have the same opportunities as other Americans.”

It’s just not fair. Millionaires in our nation’s capital won’t get this subsidy.

Thanks to Senator Coburn.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.